My Fair Lady My Fair Lady First performance of the third subscription Performers Credits Music by Frederick Loewe Libretto and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner after the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw and the film of the same name by Gabriel Pascal Russian text by Yury Korneyev & Polina Melkova Orchestration by Robert Russell Bennet & Philip J. Lang Principal Chorus Master: Andrei Petrenko Synopsis Act I On a cold night in London, patrons leaving the Royal Opera House are trying to find taxis. Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl, is knocked over by one of them: a young man called Freddy Eynsford-Hill. She admonishes him, becoming even more upset when she sees another man copying down her words. This is Henry Higgins, a distinguished professor of phonetics. Lamenting Eliza’s dreadful accent, he declares that in six months he could turn her into a lady simply by teaching her to speak properly. An older gentleman introduces himself as Colonel Pickering, a linguist who has long studied Indian dialects. As both men have always wanted to meet each other, Higgins invites Pickering to stay with him.

As they leave, the professor distractedly throws some spare change into Eliza’s flower basket. She and her cockney friends wonder what it would be like to live a comfortable life. Eliza’s father, Alfred P. Doolittle, and his drinking companions Harry and Jamie, all dustmen, emerge from a nearby pub. Doolittle, as usual, is searching for money for another drink, and Eliza reluctantly gives him some. At Higgins’s home the housekeeper, Mrs. Pearce, announces that a young woman has arrived. It is in fact Eliza, who wants Professor Higgins to teach her to speak properly so that she can obtain work in a florist’s shop. Pickering bets Higgins that he will not be able to make good his claim to transform Eliza and even volunteers to pay for Eliza’s lessons. An intensive makeover of Eliza’s speech, manners and dress begins. Eliza’s father arrives at Higgins’ house the next morning, claiming that Higgins is compromising Eliza’s virtue. Higgins is impressed by the man’s natural gift for language and his brazen lack of moral values.

He and Doolittle agree that Eliza can continue to take lessons and live at Higgins’ house if Higgins gives Doolittle five pounds for a drinking spree. While Eliza endures the long and difficult speech tutoring, the servants lament the long hours that Higgins imposes on the entire household. Just as they are all about to give up, Higgins eloquently speaks of the glory of the English language and Eliza makes the long-awaited breakthrough. For her first public tryout, Higgins takes Eliza to his mother’s box at Ascot Racecourse. Eliza initially impresses with her polite manners but then unintentionally shocks everyone when she excitedly reverts to Cockney during a horse race. But she has captured the heart of Freddy Eynsford-Hill, the young man who knocked her over outside the Royal Opera. Freddy calls on Eliza, but after the Ascot disaster she refuses to see anyone. He declares that he will wait for her as long as is necessary. After further preparation Eliza is finally ready for an even more difficult test: the Embassy Ball. Higgins, his mother and Colonel Pickering are all nervous as to how the evening will unfold. But Eliza passes the test brilliantly.

Everyone at the ball is fascinated by her, including a Hungarian phonetician named Zoltan Karpathy. Higgins’ triumph is complete when the Queen of Transylvania not only notices Eliza but encourages her son, the Crown Prince, to dance with her. Act II After the ball, Pickering flatters Higgins about his triumph, while the professor expresses his pleasure that the experiment is finally over. The episode leaves Eliza feeling used and abandoned, particularly as Higgins completely ignores her except to ask where he has left his slippers. When Eliza throws them at him, Higgins is completely mystified by her ingratitude. Deciding to leave the house that very night, Eliza finds Freddy still waiting outside. He is overjoyed to see her, but Eliza cuts him off, telling him that if he really loved her, he would show her rather than talk about it. Returning to Covent Garden, Eliza’s old friends no longer recognize her. But her father, surprisingly dressed in top hat and tails, does. He explains bitterly that as a result of Professor Higgins’ intervention, he has received a surprise bequest from an American millionaire, which has ruined him by raising him to middle-class respectability.

The worst thing is that he now has to marry the woman he has been living with for all these years. Doolittle and his friends decide to have one last drinking spree before his wedding the next morning. Higgins and Pickering are upset to discover that Eliza has left, and Pickering leaves to try and find her. Concluding that men are far superior to women in everything, Higgins nevertheless seeks his mother’s advice. He is astonished to find Eliza having tea with her. Higgins demands that she return home, but Eliza accuses him of wanting her back only to fetch and carry for him. She further declares that she was foolish to ever think that she needed Higgins, and that she will marry Freddy instead. The professor is struck by Eliza’s spirit and independence and asks her once more to stay with him, but she tells him that he will not be seeing her again. As Higgins returns home alone, he begins to discover what his real feelings for Eliza might be. As he listens once again to the first recording he made of Eliza’s voice, the recording is suddenly replaced by Eliza’s real voice.

Without even looking up, Higgins asks her if she has any idea where his slippers might be… Robert Carsen My Fair Lady (1964) It's 'ow' and 'garn' that keep her in her place, Not her wretched clothes and dirty face. Why can't the English teach their children how to speak? This verbal class distinction, by now, should be antique. [To Pickering] If you spoke as she does, sir, instead of the way you do, Why you might be selling flowers too... Why can't the English teach their children how to speak? Norwegians learn Norwegian, the Greeks are taught their Greek In France every Frenchman knows his language from 'A' to 'Zed' - The French don't care what they do, actually, as long as they pronounce it properly. Arabians learn Arabian with the speed of summer lightning. The Hebrews learn it backwards which is absolutely frightening. Use proper English, you're regarded as a freak. Oh, why can't the English - Why can't the English learn to speak? So the Professor makes an initial challenge toward Pickering which becomes the cornerstone of the film's plot.

He wagers with the Colonel that within six months, he can teach Eliza Doolittle to speak articulately so that she will be transformed into a pure-speaking lady, so that no one will suspect her Cockney origins when she is passed off as a duchess at an Embassy Ball. She will become a proper, aristocratic lady just by being taught proper English: You see this creature with her curbstone English. The English that will keep her in the gutter till the end of her days. Well, sir, in six months, I could pass her off as a duchess at an Embassy Ball. I could even get her a job as a lady's maid or a shop assistant, which requires better English...[To Eliza] Yes, you squashed cabbage leaf. You disgrace to the noble architecture of these columns! You incarnate insult to the English language! I could pass you off as, ah, the Queen of Sheba.

The Colonel ("the author of Spoken Sanscrit"), as it turns out, has journeyed from India to meet "Henry Higgins, author of Higgins' Universal Alphabet." Now acquainted with each other after their chance meeting, Higgins invites Pickering to his home at 27A Wimpole Street and they wander off speaking about the 147 "distinct languages" or Indian dialects. Among the other street vendors, Eliza has had her interest piqued in becoming a lady. With her untutored manner, she sings and dances with them about her dreams in "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?": All I want is a room somewhere, far away from the cold night air. With one enormous chair; Oh wouldn't it be loverly? Lots of choc'late for me to eat; Lots of coal makin' lots of heat. Warm face, warm 'ands, warm feet, Oh wouldn't it be loverly? Oh, so loverly sittin' abso-bloomin'-lutely still! I would never budge 'til Spring crept over my window sill.

Someone's head restin' on my knee; Warm and tender as he can be, Who takes good care of me; Oh wouldn't it be loverly? Loverly, loverly, loverly, loverly. Early the next morning, Eliza's hard-drinking, disreputable, scruffy-looking father Alfred (Stanley Holloway) is looking for his daughter in the Covent Garden market area - boasting to his friends Jamie (John Alderson) and Harry (John McLiam) that he deserves a paternal handout: I give her everythin'; I give her the greatest gift that a human being can give to another: life. I introduced her to this 'ere planet I did, with all its wonders and marvels. The sun that shines, the moon that glows, Hyde Park to walk through on a fine spring night. The whole ruddy city o' London to roam around in, sellin 'er bloomin' flowers. I give 'er all that, then I disappears and leaves 'er on 'er own to enjoy it. Now, if that ain't worth half-a-crown now and again, I'll take my belt off and give 'er what for!

Although at first, Eliza resists giving her father any of her hard-earned money: "Y'ain't gonna take me hard-earned wages and pass 'em on to a bloody pub-keeper," she relents. Because of her "bit o' luck" the previous night when Higgins generously threw coins into her flower basket, she gives her father a half-crown. After Eliza hears the church bells peal, she is reminded of Higgins' appraisal that she is condemned by every syllable she speaks, and his equally promising words about how he could transform her speech differences under his tutelage. In Higgins' study at his residence on Wimpole Street, the professor and his houseguest are studying vowel sounds produced from a vibrating tuning fork taken from a rack full of tuning forks. They also listen to a phonograph playing recorded phonetic sounds when Eliza appears at the Higgins front door. The maid Mrs. Pearce (Mona Washbourne) admits her into the study, thinking she is one of Higgins' subjects of "business" study: "Well, she's quite a common girl, sir. Very common indeed.

I should have sent her away only I thought perhaps you wanted her to talk into your machine." But when Eliza makes her entrance, Higgins brusquely dismisses her: "Oh, no, no, no. This is the girl I jotted down last night. She's no use. I've got all the records I want of the Lisson Grove lingo. I'm not gonna waste another cylinder on that. Now be off with you, I don't want you." Eliza begs to be taught to speak well enough to work at a flower shop. She announces that she has decided to hire Higgins to give her elocution lessons, but Higgins is very uninterested: Higgins: Pickering? Shall we ask this baggage to sit down or shall we just throw her out of the window? Eliza: Ah-ah-ah-ow-ow-ow-oo! I won't be called a baggage, not when I've offered to pay like any lady. Pickering: What do you want, my girl? Eliza: I want to be a lady in a flower shop 'stead of sellin' at the corner o' Tottenham Court Road. But they won't take me unless I can talk more genteel.

(gesturing toward Higgins) He said he could teach me. Well, here I am ready to pay. I'm not asking any favor - and he treats me as if I was dirt. (Turning toward Higgins) I know what lessons cost as well as you do, and I'm ready to pay. Pickering convinces Higgins that it would make an interesting challenge to actually teach Eliza how to speak - to change her from a drab 'guttersnipe' into a beautiful woman through language education: Pickering: What about your boast that you could pass her off as a duchess at the Embassy Ball, eh? I'll say you're the greatest teacher alive if you make that good. I'll bet you all the expenses of the experiment that you can't do it. I'll even pay for the lessons. Eliza: Oh, you're real good. Thank you, capt'n. Higgins: You know, it's almost irresistible. She's so deliciously low. So horribly dirty. Eliza: (protesting) I ain't dirty. I washed my face and hands before I come, I did. Higgins: I'll take it.

I'll make a duchess of this draggle-tailed guttersnipe. Eliza: Ah-ah-ah-ow-ow-oo! Higgins: We'll start today, now, this moment! Take her away, Mrs. Pearce, and clean her. Sandpaper, if it won't come off any other way. Is there a good fire in the kitchen? Mrs. Pearce: Yes, but - Higgins: Take all her clothes off and burn them and ring up and order some new ones. Just wrap her in brown paper till they come. Eliza: You're no gentleman, you're not, to talk of such things. I'm a good girl, I am. And I know what the likes of you are, I do. Higgins: We want none of your slum prudery here, young woman. You've got to learn to behave like a duchess. Now take her away, Mrs. Pearce, and if she gives you any trouble, wallop her.

And Higgins optimistically predicts that she will become an attractive lady to the men in town: "By george, Eliza, the streets will be strewn with the bodies of men shooting themselves for your sake before I've done with you." When she resists his cold insults and stomps out, he tempts her back with chocolates: "Think of it, Eliza. Think of chocolates, and taxis, and gold, and diamonds!" And then to answer Pickering's questions about the six month "experiment in teaching" while she is in his hands, Higgins describes what will happen - tongue in cheek: Eliza, you are to stay here for the next six months learning how to speak beautifully, like a lady in a florist shop. If you're good and do whatever you're told, you shall sleep in a proper bedroom, have lots to eat, and money to buy chocolates and take rides in taxis. But if you are naughty and idle, you shall sleep in the back kitchen amongst the black beetles, and be walloped by Mrs. Pearce with a broomstick. At the end of six months, you shall be taken to Buckingham Palace in a carriage, beautifully dressed.

If the King finds out that you're not a lady, the police will take you to the Tower of London, where your head will be cut off as a warning to other presumptuous flower girls. But if you are not found out, you shall have a present of, uh, seven-and-six to start life with a lady in a shop. If you refuse this offer, you will be the most ungrateful, wicked girl, and the angels will weep for you. Now, are you satisfied, Pickering? As Eliza is dragged upstairs to the bathroom to her uncertain fate by Mrs. Pearce, screaming: "If I'd known what I would've let myself in for I wouldn't have come here. I've always been a good girl, I have, and I won't be put upon," Higgins reiterates his confidence in the wager: "In six months, in three if she has a good ear and a quick tongue, I'll take her anywhere and I'll pass her off as anything. I'll make a queen of that barbarous wretch." The unwashed Cockney girl is led into a fancy new bedroom, while a maid runs water into a bathtub in the adjoining bathroom. Mrs.

Pearce admonishes: "You know, you can't be a nice girl inside if you're dirty outside." Eliza is overwhelmed and in awe of the fancy room: "It's too good for the likes of me. I shall be afraid to touch anything. I ain't a duchess yet, you know." Two serving girls and Higgin's housekeeper enter the bathroom, shut the door behind them, and wrestle Eliza to take her clothes off and plunge her into the steaming bathtub. Her screams of protest resound throughout the residence: "Get your hands off me! No! I won't! Let go of me!" While the two maids carry off Eliza's clothes, Higgins is asked by the morally-responsible Pickering if he will take advantage of Eliza under the circumstances: "I hope it's clearly understood that no advantage is to be taken of her position...This is no trifling matter. Are you a man of good character where women are concerned?" The confirmed, aloof, hyper-logical bachelor/professor expresses his feelings about women in words and song: "I find the moment that a woman makes friends with me, she becomes jealous, exacting, suspicious, and a damned nuisance.

And I find the moment that I make friends with a woman, I become selfish and tyrannical. So here I am, a confirmed old bachelor, and likely to remain so." The snobbish professor contemptuously sings-talks that he is a "quiet living man" without the need for a woman in "An Ordinary Man": I'm an ordinary man, who desires nothing more than just an ordinary chance, to live exactly as he likes, and do precisely what he wants. An average man am I, of no eccentric whim, Who likes to live his life, free of strife Doing whatever he thinks is best for him, Well, just an ordinary man But, let a woman in your life and your serenity is through She'll redecorate your home, from the cellar to the dome Then go to the enthralling fun of overhauling you Let a woman in your life, and you're up against a wall, Make a plan and you will find, she has something else in mind, And so rather than do either you do something else that neither likes at all.

You want to talk of Keats or Milton, she only wants to talk of love You go to see a play or ballet, and spend it searching for her glove Let a woman in your life and you invite eternal strife, Let them buy their wedding bands for those anxious little hands I'd be equally as willing for a dentist to be drilling, than to ever let a woman in my life... In another line, he confirms his incorrigible bachelorhood and his impatience and distaste for creatures of the female sex: "Let a woman in your life and you're plunging in a knife. Let the others of my sex tie the knot around their necks, I'd prefer a new edition of the Spanish Inquisition than to ever let a woman in my life." In Covent Garden after being thrown out of a pub, a besotted, lazy Doolittle and his friends ponder how to escape work.

Eliza's father, a dustman and scoundrel, answers the question by singing: "With A Little Bit O' Luck", explaining in part, how he lives a life of unwedded bliss: The Lord above gave man an arm of iron, so he could do his job and never shirk The Lord above gave man an arm of iron but, with a little bit o' luck, With a little bit o' luck, Someone else'll do the blinkin' work! The Lord above made liquor for temptation, to see if man could turn away from sin. The Lord above made liquor for temptation but, with a little bit o' luck, With a little bit o' luck, When temptation comes, you'll give right in!.. Oh you can walk the straight and narrow, but with a little bit o' luck you'll run amuck. The gentle sex was made for man to marry, to share his nest and see his food is cooked. The gentle sex was made for man to marry but, with a little bit o' luck, With a little bit o' luck, You can have it all and not get hooked!

An old Cockney woman calls out to Alfred from a basement-level window where Eliza used to reside (three days earlier) that he is a lucky man because his daughter is being 'kept' by a wealthy man: You can buy your own things now, Alfie Doolittle, fallen into a tub of butter, you have...Your daughter Eliza...Moved in with a swell, Eliza has...this morning, I gets a message from her. She wants her things sent over to 27A Wimpole Street, care of Professor Higgins. And what things does she want?...Her birdcage, and a Chinese fan. But she says, 'Never mind about sending any clothes.' Alfred celebrates his luck by finishing up his song: "A man was made to help support his children, which is the right and proper thing to do. A man was made to help support his children but, with a little bit o' luck, with a little bit o' luck, they'll go out and start supporting you!" My Fair Lady (Theatre) - TV Tropes My Fair Lady You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?

This verbal class distinction by now should be antique. If you spoke as she did, sir, instead of the way you do, Why, you might be selling flowers, too! — Henry Higgins, "Why Can't The English?" My Fair Lady started life as a stage musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, based on George Bernard Shaw 's Pygmalion , and starring Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison . It was a smash hit when it opened in 1956, and set new records for the longest run in Broadway musical history (a title now held by The Phantom of the Opera , which is still running).

The musical follows the young Eliza Doolittle, an outspoken and hopeful flower girl in Edwardian England who takes elocution lessons from Professor Henry Higgins, who (as a result of a bet with the kindly Colonel Pickering) promises to turn her into "a lady." He then trains her, day and night, using some downright bizarre machinery and techniques (the marbles make sense, but some of the others...) When Higgins attempts to try Eliza out on Society by introducing her into his mother's box at Ascot, the transfigured flower girl also encounters young Freddy Eynsford-Hill, who, unaware of Eliza's true social standing, is instantly smitten — despite Eliza's humiliating lapse into vulgarity at the running of the horserace itself. The lessons finally culminate in the Embassy Ball, at which ambassadors, lords, and the Queen and Prince of Transylvania will be present. The ball, despite the presence of the venal language expert Zoltan Karpathy, goes incredibly well; Eliza dances with the prince and many at the ball believe Karpathy's identification of Eliza as a Hungarian princess(!).

Then the relationship between Eliza and Higgins, which had been steadily improving, takes a huge blow when Higgins takes all the credit for Eliza's success. Eliza is understandably saddened and enraged and she leaves the house after an outburst that leaves Higgins angry and confused; the rest of the play involves them figuring out their relationship in their own way, though if it works out in the end is left to the viewers' interpretations. In 1964, Warner Bros. released a movie adaptation , which starred Audrey Hepburn as Eliza. This work provides examples of: Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole : In the first act of Pygmalion, Henry Higgins brings Eliza to a tea party at his mother's house. Lerner and Loewe dropped that scene and replaced it with the scene at the Ascot races (presumably to give the chorus something to do). They left unexplained how Eliza knows where Mrs. Higgins lives in order to visit her in the second act, as in this version of events she has never been there before. Adorkable : Freddy gets positively randy over Eliza's bad social graces. Alliterative Name : Henry Higgins.

Eliza, a Cockney girl, struggles with dropping H's and calls him 'Enry 'Iggins. Ambiguous Disorder : Higgins, who comes from noble stock, is such an offensive and crass boor that his mother has banned him from her social circle. This is illustrated at the horse races where sumptuous hats and tuxedos are on display; enter Higgins, crashing the party in his usual, dusty-looking tweed. Higgins' out of control ego could suggest some kind of narcissistic personality disorder or, considering his obvious genius, a high-functioning form of Asperger's. Anti-Love Song : "Just You Wait" and "Without You". Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me : Higgins said this out loud, and Eliza certainly thought he meant it in the trope sense, too. He didn't. Big Fancy House : Higgins' pad. "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word : Enforced when Higgins asks Alfie point-blank how much he wants. Alfie insists on beating around the bush, seemingly on principle.

Blessed with Suck : Alfred's windfall is a double-edged sword, as he's now forced to enter into legal marriage with "Mrs." Dolittle. As if 'avin' to act like a bloomin' gentleman weren't enough already. Bowdlerise : The name of the oily language expert was changed from Nepomuk to Zoltan Karpathy, because St. John Nepomuk (as Shaw was well aware) was a Catholic saint and patron of the confessional. Break the Haughty : Mrs. Higgins' favorite sport with her son, and she delights in Eliza putting him in his place in front of her. British Stuffiness / Dull Surprise : "The Ascot Gavotte." The English sure know how to party. Bunny-Ears Lawyer : He may be lord of the manor, but Higgins' weirdness is very apparent in public. Con Man : Alfie. Costume Porn : Eliza's gorgeous dresses after her transformation. Curse Cut Short : While singing "Without You", Eliza nearly tells Higgins he can go to Hell — but replaces it with "Hertford, Hereford, and Hampshire" (echoing Higgins' speech exercise from earlier).

Freddy of all people does it during his first song when he is just about to quote Eliza's Precision F-Strike in song when Mrs Pearce opens the door. Dances and Balls : The Embassy Ball. Dark(er) Reprise : "Just You Wait" gets a reprise shortly after "You Did It". This time, It's Personal . Deconfirmed Bachelor : Henry Higgins embodies this trope, having said 'So here I am, a confirmed old bachelor and likely to remain so' and so much more. The only hang-up is whether he can actually be considered deconfirmed by the end—though most people agree he had at least befriended and come to care about Eliza by the end—and since he is such an extreme case that he'd never even had a female friend before, by his own admission, this could still be enough of an about-face to qualify him. Disproportionate Retribution : ï¿½Just You Waitï¿½, in which Eliza wishes death on Professor Higgins in return for his rudeness. Dogged Nice Guy : Freddy, in what would be considered stalking by today's terms. Dr.

Jerk : Henry Higgins himself, though he's technically a professor of linguistics and not a doctor per se . Dresses the Same : In the Ascot scene in the film. Drill Sergeant Nasty : Higgins mercilessly drills Eliza day and night. Meanwhile, his servant staff fawns over his ordeal. Dude, Where's My Respect? : Eliza is extremely angry over how Higgins gets all the praise for fooling everyone at the Embassy ball. "Yoooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuu did it! ♫" In a flash of Fridge Brilliance , this may imply a case of Death of the Hypotenuse . In 1912, Edward VII had been dead for two years so strictly speaking the New Georgian Era. In historical terms, the Edwardian Era lasted from the death of Queen Victoria until the First World War. And although she may have studied with an expert dialectitian and grammarian, I can tell that she was born — Hungarian! ...Not only Hungarian, but of royal blood. Even Evil Has Standards : Higgins might experiment on the desperate and vulnerable for the sake of his own amusement, but Zoltan — a hatchet man who likes to mix with socialites — is low even for him.

Fanfare : "The Transylvanian March". Fee Fi Faux Pas : Eliza's outburst at the races, to her (and Henry's) embarrassment. Fictional Holiday : In Eliza's dream ("Just You Wait"), the King is so enraptured by her voice that he declares Eliza Dolittle Day. Flat Joy : Those prim-and-proper racetrack patrons sure are excited to be there. Can't you tell? Gem-Encrusted : The embassy dress is loaded with jewels. Gentleman Snarker : Professor Higgins is impeccably polite in the rudest way possible. Good Cop/Bad Cop : Pickering and Higgins. Gorgeous Period Dress : One of its Oscars was for Costume Design. Got Me Doing It : The voice exercises start getting to poor Pickering after awhile. "'Ave you troid the ploin cayke?" Grief Song : "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face" arguably, since it's a combination of grief and anger. Doubles as Love Epiphany . Hates Everyone Equally : Higgins' defense to Eliza's charge that he still treats her like rubbish.

In point of fact, he treats everyone like that — and he's proud of it, too. Higgins: The question is not whether I treat you rudely, but whether you've ever heard me treat anyone else better. He-Man Woman Hater : Henry is very misogynistic, though he insists he's not. In fact, he's got a whole song dedicated to whining about how much he dislikes women ("An Ordinary Man"). The end of the play may have helped him get over it, but again, it's up to viewer interpretation. Two whole songs — there's also "A Hymn to Him" ( a.k.a. "Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man?"). Heterosexual Life-Partners : Both Higgins and Pickering have that "confirmed bachelor" vibe thing going for them. Higgins even uses that exact phrase, then shudders at the idea of marriage.

He also has a hard time admitting Eliza "might" be attractive when he suggests she marry herself off (cue flamboyant flourish), laments that women aren't more like men, and while all this might have been intended as Belligerent Sexual Tension it's taken so far that the idea of a sexual/romantic relationship between him and Eliza becomes ... a stretch. Higgins asks Pickering where one can find a Ladies' Dress Shop. Pickering replies so quickly, Higgins asks how he would know. Pickering clears his throat and says "Common knowledge" (despite having just arrived in London from years living in India). If you insist, you can interpret Higgins' "Why Can't A Woman Be More Like A Man" number as evidence. Hypocritical Humor : As they prepare for the ball, Pickering downs a glass of port and curses Higgins for his constant serenity. Before they leave, however, Higgins peeks over his shoulder and quaffs some alcohol, too. "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face." He's a most forgiving man . "I Am" Song : "With a Little Bit of Luck" and "An Ordinary Man".

I Love You Because I Can't Control You : There's more than a hint of No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction in Eliza's relationship with Henry. Pickering is a gentle teacher, ready to call off a session when he can see Eliza is tired. In contrast, Eliza wants the approval of the never-satisfied Higgins. Later in the play, once Eliza grows independent of Higgins, is when he really becomes enamored of her. I Meant to Do That : In the midst of being thoroughly castigated by Eliza, Higgins springs up from his chair and claims credit for her self-confidence. What a chode. "I Want" Song : Eliza's "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?": she wants a cosy warm room, a comfy chair, and lots of chocolate. I "Uh" You, Too : Higgins finally confesses to Eliza that he's going to miss her... then quickly follows it up by saying Pickering misses her, too. Innocent Flower Girl : Eliza at the start of the story. The later battle to get her bathed kind of proves her innocence.

Innocent Innuendo : She sent the boy for her belongings, but she said she won't need her clothes *wink* Insufferable Genius : Even Higgins' own mother can't stand him. You, dear friend, who talk so well You can go to...Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire! Licensed Pinball Tables : Played with; there are actually two Pinball games based on My Fair Lady, though both of them were unofficial Spiritual Licensees . Gottlieb released Fair Lady in 1956, capitalizing on the success of the Broadway play, with illustrations of the masked women from the embassy ball. Then in 1966, Gottlieb released Mayfair , riding the coattails of the film adaptation. Lighter and Softer : Much more so than the original Shaw play. Location Song : "On The Street Where You Live", is a love song from the perspective of love interest Freddy. The song is about how wonderful the street seems due to Eliza living on it. Lov Epiphany: "Damn damn damn damn!

I've grown accustomed to her face!" Lyrical Dissonance : "Ascot Gavotte," wherein upper-class gents and ladies sing about "a ripping, absolutely gripping moment" with all the enthusiasm of a funeral host. Maybe Ever After : Eliza and Henry are reconciled at the end, but are they a romantic couple now, or what? The answer is only hinted. Mayï¿½December Romance : What may have happened between the 21-year-old Eliza and the much older Higgins, who is at least twice her age. Meaningful Name : A name like Doolittle totally makes sense for someone like Eliza's father. Eliza herself, on the other hand ... Men Are Uncultured : Henry Higgins believes in the inversion of this trope, that it's the hysterical women who ruin discussions of classical literature by wanting to talk about love and that if a man wants to see a play or ballet and a woman accompanies him, he'll inevitably spend it searching for her glove. Misogyny Song : "An Ordinary Man" and "A Hymn to Him".

Missing Mom : Seeing as Eliza's father remarries, and his side comments about his old wife are along the lines of "You look just like her, Eliza" and "Just like her, you never give me money!" it can be safely assumed Eliza's mother is dead. He didn't "re" marry, actually... Pickering: ...marriage isn't so frightening; you married Eliza's Mother. Doolittle: Who told ya that, guv'ner? [Gives Pickering a headshake and a slightly leering wink.] Mysterious Middle Initial : Alfred P. Dolittle. Nice Hat : The racetrack scene goes crazy with this. Every lady has a hat nicer than the previous one. Eliza's hat is just massive, including the loads of feathers on the side . Honorable mention goes to Henry's teacup and saucer. No Sympathy : The servants express more compassion for Higgins than his hapless student (Doesn't rest / Doesn't eat / Doesn't touch a crumb!) Cut to Higgins munching on cakes while Eliza is wasting away.

Also, while trying to practice with marbles in her mouth, Eliza accidentally swallows one, but Higgins simply replies "Doesn't matter, I've got more", and puts more into her mouth. Nursery Rhyme : The title, of course, comes from "London Bridge is falling down", a snatch of whose melody is heard at the beginning of "Get Me To The Church On Time". Obsession Song : "On the Street Where You Live". Considering that Freddy continues to wait outside for several days: possibly weeks — this song can get creepy for some viewers. One really should consider that he has no other polite way of contacting her, due to Higgins. It's not as if he could just text her. The text of the musical says that he arrives at the house after Ascot. Six weeks later is the Transylvanian Embassy Ball, and the day after that is the first time we see Freddy again. He's been on that street for SIX WEEKS. Parasol of Prettiness : Eliza takes one to the races.

Parental Abandonment : Eliza's father pushes this into borderline abuse levels as he not only leaves all of his children to fend for themselves, he takes their hard-earned money for himself to waste on alcohol. (And he brags about this, no less!) The line immediately following his proud description of his parenting style? "You've got a good heart, Alfie..." Pass Fail : The plot is driven by Higgins' bet that he can train a rough, low-class flower girl into passing as a member of the aristocracy. Pet the Dog : After a full day of nonstop, grueling exercises, an exhausted Higgins finally offers Eliza a few soft words of encouragement. At this, her voice instantly transforms into an impeccable upper class accent. Alfie gets one when he cajoles Eliza to be self-reliant, as "she's a lady now." Pimped-Out Dress : See the photo; also, her gown for the Embassy ball. Pink Product Ploy : Every DVD cover since 2004 has a pink background.

(The 2004 cover actually uses a 1964 poster which was pink to begin with.) Plank Gag : Happens during the "With A Little Bit Of Luck" song, since Alfie Doolittle is singing in what seems to be a construction area and there is inevitably someone who swings a plank around and someone else gets hit by it. Since Eliza mentioned straight to Higgins that she might become a linguist like him as her way of getting back at him, you should wonder whether Zoltan really is as devious and conniving as Higgins claims . Still, Zoltan did say of the Greek Ambassador's birth origin "I keep his secret, but I make him pay. I make them all pay", so the character himself seems to confirm the blackmail accusation. Pygmalion Snap Back : Eliza has one at the Ascot Gavotte. She later returns to the flower garden and is not recognized, despite using Cockney. She spends most of Act II speaking in some sort of British/Cockney hybrid, so it's not clear if she wants the Pygmalion results to stick. Rags to Royalty : Well, upper middle class. And she was able to be taken for nobility.

"The Reason You Suck" Speech : Both Eliza and Henry deliver these to each other. Several times. Henry even gets a Reason Your Speech Sucks Speech. Eliza even gets a Reason You Suck Song ("Just You Wait"). Right Behind Me : At the end of "Just You Wait", Eliza realizes that Higgins was standing behind her, watching her singing about his death. Awkward... Romantic False Lead : Either Freddy or Higgins. It's left very ambiguous. Stalking Is Love : Freddy. 'Nuff said. Stealth Insult : Eliza gets Higgins with a few. Higgins isn't so good at being stealthy with insults, but doesn't understand why he has to be. Which is about the best you can hope for from Higgins. "I've learned something from your idiotic notions." Stranger in a Familiar Land : Fed up with her keeper, Eliza returns to the old neighborhood after her blossoming into a lady, but no one recognizes her. You, dear friend, who talk so well, You can go to — Hertford, Hereford, and Hampshire! Talk About the Weather : While in public, Higgins advises Eliza to stick to mundane topics: the weather, and everyone's health.

It backfires. Mrs. Higgins, disgusted with every word that comes out of her son's mouth, echoes this advice in the end. They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich : Higgins and Pickering are too stuffed to finish the last cake tart. Not to worry, says Higgins; he knows somebody who loves these. He marches right past a famished Eliza to feed it to a parrot. Training from Hell : Linguistics training from hell, although not as over-the-top as some examples. Tsundere : Eliza is Type A, though this largely comes through from being around Higgins; when left with her Cockney friends, she's more Type B. Higgins himself is a type A, notably when he meets Eliza at his mother's. He'll get close to being kind to Eliza, realise what he just said and promptly insult her. "The Villain Sucks" Song : "Without You" is this, as well as being a bit of a Anti-Love Song . Also "Just You Wait". Westminster Chimes : A modified version begins every iteration of "Poor Professor Higgins".

:: Indexes :: My Fair Lady | Shows | NYC | Tams-WitmarkTams Witmark Brief History Upcoming The first encounter between Professor Henry Higgins, the brilliant, crotchety, middle-aged bachelor who is England’s leading phoneticist, and Eliza Doolittle, the little cockney gutter sparrow, takes place near the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, late on a cold March night. Eliza is selling violets. Higgins is out on his endless quest for new dialects of London’s speech (“Why Can’t The English?”). A handsome young aristocrat, Freddy Eynsford-Hill, takes no notice of her when she tries to sell him violets (“Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?”). Colonel Pickering, also a linguistic expert, comes to stay with Higgins at his flat.

Eliza’s squalid father, Alfred Doolittle, outlines his optimistic if somewhat unorthodox philosophy of life in the rousing “With a Little Bit of Luck.” Eliza comes to Higgins’ flat to be instructed in the English language, in order to transform herself into a “lidy.” Pickering challenges Higgins to “metamorphose the guttersnipe into a paragon of verbal correctitude.” Higgins looks upon her not as a person but as raw material for his experiment; he drills Eliza for weeks. As no hint of progress is made, Eliza loses her courage, Higgins loses his temper, and even Pickering’s patience wears thin. In her anger and futility, Eliza creates a set of mean fantasies involving her professor (“Just You Wait”). At last she improves, and they all proclaim the victor in “The Rain in Spain.” In the flush of his first success, Higgins puts Eliza to a preliminary test. He will introduce her to his mother’s snobbish guests at the Ascot Race Meeting the following week.

Eliza expresses her own towering exaltation in “I Could Have Danced All Night.” Eliza, strikingly pretty in her new gown and hairdo, appears at the races (“Ascot Gavotte”). Instructed to restrict her conversation to the weather and everyone’s health, she says her little set pieces flawlessly. The illusion is shattered when her enthusiasm for the horse she is backing impels her to indulge in a bout of violently unladylike cheering. Freddy Eynsford-Hill falls hopelessly in love with the new Eliza, and later pours out “On the Street Where You Live” at her window. Six weeks later, Higgins – in a crucial test – presents Eliza at a full-dress Embassy ball. She is the object of admiration, and everyone speculates on her identity. It becomes obvious that Eliza must charm Karpathy, a European phonetics expert. At the height of the ball, Karpathy invites her to dance and comments on the pureness of her English. Pickering and Higgins, back at the flat, indulge in self congratulation (“You Did It”). Neither of them takes into account Eliza’s personal accomplishment in the matter.

Eliza has absorbed the sophistication and the courage to see the unfairness of this, and she blows up, demanding recognition. The Professor is not so much affronted as astonished; it is as though a statue had come to life and spoken. Infuriated and frustrated, Eliza storms out of the house. She encounters Freddy and turns her fury on him (“Show Me”). Eliza aimlessly walks the streets of the town the remainder of the night. She encounters her father, drunk and dressed for a fashionable wedding. He has become wealthy, and Eliza’s mother is marrying him at last (“Get Me to the Church on Time”). Higgins discovers that he is hurt because Eliza left him. He meets her at his mother’s flat where she has gone for advice. They argue violently (“Without You”) and she storms out. It is only a moment after her departure that Higgins finally wakes up to the fact that Eliza has become an entirely independent and admirable human being. He realizes that he will have a difficult time getting on without her (“I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face”). Back at his flat, he sinks into his chair prepared to face a bleak, lonely future.

But just then – a moment before the final curtain falls – a figure emerges from the shadowy corner of the room, and Higgins recognizes Eliza. He leans back with a long, contented sigh and speaks softly: “Eliza? Where the devil are my slippers?” -Copyright©1962 by Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Loewe [Licensee] Book and Lyrics by Music by ALAN JAY LERNER FREDERICK LOEWE (75%) Adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s Play and Gabriel Pascal’s Motion Picture “PYGMALION” (50%) Original Production Directed by Moss Hart (50%) No names shall be billed in type as large or as prominent as those of the authors except the name of the play and stars. In the programs, the credits shall appear on the title page thereof. The title page of the program shall contain the following announcement in type size at least one-half the size of the authors’ credits: MY FAIR LADY is presented by arrangement with TAMS-WITMARK MUSIC LIBRARY, INC.

560 Lexington Avenue, New York, New York 10022 Choose either Full Orchestration, Wind Band Arrangement, Combo Instrumentation or 2-Piano Arrangement Full Orchestration Piano-Conductor’s Score sent with the rehearsal material. (There is no Piano in the orchestration) * Percussion: Snare Drums (Small & Deep Pitch) Bass Drum Horse Racing Signal (Cued for Bells) Triangle Optional additional materials are available (see list under Rehearsal Materials). Wind Band Arrangement Piano-Conductor’s Score for bandstration sent with rehearsal material (There is no Piano in the Bandstration) Combo Instrumentation Alfred Doolittle Alfred Doolittle Bookmark this page Manage My Reading List Doolittle is not so much a character as he is a vehicle which Shaw manipulates for his own dramatic purposes. Through Doolittle, Shaw is able to make many satirical thrusts at middle-class morality and to make additional comments on class distinctions and on class manners.

(It is especially witty when Eliza points out to Higgins that the Professor's so-called equality in the way he treats people shows that he has the same manners as her father because Doolittle makes no class distinctions either: the analogy wounds Higgins because he has to acknowledge that it is essentially true.) As his name readily suggests, Doolittle does as little as possible to get through life. He is a dustman because that is easier for him than "real work." (A dustman was a person who simply collected the ashes that people put out; by Shaw's time, refuse was added to the ashes, making Doolittle essentially a garbage collector.) The comedy connected with Doolittle is his transformation during the course of the play. Whereas his daughter wants to become a member of the respectable middle class, Doolittle is delighted that his job as dustman is so low on the social class scale that it has absolutely no morals connected to it; therefore, he is not subjected to "dreadful" middle-class morality — at least not until the last act.

When we first meet Doolittle, he comes to Professor Higgins' house in the hypocritical role of the "virtuous father" in order to rescue his "compromised daughter." It is soon discovered, however, that he threw his daughter out into the streets to earn her own living over two years ago, and, furthermore, he was never married to Eliza's mother. In fact, the people in the neighborhood won't even let Doolittle have any of Eliza's belongings. When the ruse of the virtuous father fails, Doolittle quickly changes his pitch and becomes the ingratiating pimp as he tries to sell his own daughter to the men for almost any price they are willing to pay.

Higgins and Pickering are not taken in by his nauseating suggestions, however, but they are delighted by Doolittle's poetic use of the English language, by his use of rhetoric that could only be used by a Welshman, and by his ingenuity as he tries one method after another until he assumes a philosophical pose; in his resourceful rhetoric, he stoutly proclaims that too much charity has been directed at the "deserving poor." Now is it time for him to claim his equal share as a member of the "undeserving poor." An undeserving poor man, according to Doolittle, has as much right to go on a drunken binge as does a deserving poor man; furthermore, if they will give him some money, he will promise to spend it all on a drunken binge immediately and will thus be broke and ready for work on Monday morning. The originality of this idea, and the audacity and impudence with which it is put forward, cause Higgins and Pickering to yield to Doolittle's request, and they even offer him ten pounds, but Doolittle refuses because it would involve him in responsibilities; he can't drink up ten pounds in the weekend, but he can drink up five pounds.

In the last act, Doolittle's character does not essentially change. It is only that through a large sum of money, he has been forced to accept responsibilities that he would rather not have been faced with. The immoral blackmailer and pimp of the second act has now been forced into the role of a lecturer on moral reforms, and he must now adopt middle-class morality. Since Shaw philosophically wanted to do completely away with the lower class, he is pleased to force Doolittle into accepting a position where he will not be comfortable being one of the "undeserving poor"; Shaw undoubtedly was secretly delighted at the discomfiture that Doolittle was undergoing.

Question: In 'My Fair Lady' what is the first name of 'Eliza Doolittle's' father?
Answer: 'ALFRED'